Yesterday I had the honor and pleasure of acting as best man for my great and longtime friend Peter, in a beautiful wedding ceremony at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. It was a fantastic event, a chance to hang out at a wonderful resort and to see many old friends and make some new ones, a time to laugh and dance, and most of all a celebration as two people who genuinely love each other vowed to spent the rest of their lives together.

It was a Jewish ceremony, thought light on religious dogma and nicely updated to the 21st century, and I thought the rabbi did a great job. Along with the joys of marriage she spoke of the challenges in any relationship, and in a nice turn of phrase referred to the need to "give each other space without creating distance". It's interesting to ponder; I agree that's crucial to making a long term relationship work, although I hadn't thought about it quite that way. It's sort of equivalent to letting the other person be who they are, while still appreciating and supporting them closely.

The best thing about weddings and funerals and other people's life events is the way it gives you a chance to think about your own life, and put it into perspective. I can't say I've enjoyed all the funerals I've been to (and fortunately I haven't been to that many) but surprisingly they each seem to have left a philosophical mark.

Weddings are of course more fun - though often just as stressful - and they, too, leave an impression that lasts long after the details have faded.

Wrapping up a great weekend, today I sailed in Westlake Yacht Club's trick or treat regatta, crewing for my 11-year-old friend Will. Was pretty much a perfect ending... but meanwhile, it's all happening...

I'm going back in time for this one: Russell Beattie's post from September 2013, in which he announced his decision to stop building a feed reader and to join Amazon's Lab126. That's the team that have built the Fire Phone, and I have to believe Russell was a big part of it. Cool.

Google's Eric Schmidt: "really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon". It's a great post - check it out, there's a lot more - but this is such an interesting point. I honestly think more companies feel Amazon is their biggest competitor than any other, and that includes Wal-Mart in retail and Google themselves in tech. I wouldn't even be surprised if Facebook thinks Amazon is a competitor :)

Do you consider yourself liberal or conservative? It might just be your name. According to this I'm moderately conservative, which seems right...